Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fashion Me Red

Back in August I was browsing women's clothing catalogs online in places where I wouldn't normally shop because I'm not that cool or trendy. Understanding that the color red would be back this Fall, I felt exhilarated and eagerly anticipated adding that new red sweater or coat into my regular rotation of favorites. Red is a color that complements me and works reliably with the various black, denim or brown slacks, jeans or skirts I wear for every occasion. According to Wikipedia, the color red connotes a variety of signals including, danger, anger, communism, lust, friendship and honor. For me, red just feels good.

To my dismay, I completely misunderstood the trend. All of the new women's clothing catalogs in my mailbox and inbox are displaying sweaters, boyfriend jackets and tweeds in purple, lavender, grey and blue. There are some orange and yellow and green accents here and there, and they're very nice, but true red clothing appears to be out, for the time being. Apparently the more muted colors are reflective of our "tough economic times", according to Allan Barger of "Fashionising". I have recently sworn off the phrase "tough economic times" and still prefer Pantone 185 or 186 Red to American Beauty Rose or Burnt Sienna.

I trust that my new red sweater will turn up eventually; I can be patient.